Hurt
by geekischic
Summary: Elena finds a strangely pained and broken Damon after their failed attempt to save Katherine from the church. Damon/Elena. Damon/Katherine. Post ep for Fool Me Once.


The aura that surrounds Damon nearly knocks Elena clear to the ground. She doesn't need a vampire's heightened senses to detect the waves of grief and pain that fill the air, all emanating from the man who stands before her. With bated breath and cautious steps, she approaches him, though he doesn't acknowledge her. He _can't _acknowledge her, she realizes, though she still finds herself unable to stay away from him.

"Damon," Her fingers reach out to brush against his shoulder, but she thinks better of it at the last second. Her hand returns to her side as she remains standing behind him, unsure of why she's here and what she planned to do or say in the first place. "I… I'm so sorry."

He remains silent as he turns to face her slowly, ever so slowly. The light from the fire illuminates his face, revealing the wet trails across his cheeks he swore he wouldn't let anyone see. Especially her.

The sight of his tears widens her eyes, and she bites her lip at the heavy atmosphere that surrounds them. She's suddenly overwhelmed by pain and sympathy for him, though it shocks her to admit it. Damon, Stefan's jackass of a brother, who didn't give a damn about anyone but himself, had been reduced to ruins in a matter of hours. And it shocked Elena to witness it.

His lip trembles as he faces her, though he does his best to try to hide it. His eyes squeeze shut at the pain that threatens to consume him as he fights back, refusing to allow Elena to see him like this. But it's no use. He can't hold back the pain and betrayal he feels toward Katherine, and he opens his eyes as he takes a shaky breath. "I loved her," The words are like a dying breath, so pained and torn as they leave his lips, "And she left me."

Elena feels her heart wrench as the grief drips from his words, and she takes a few slow steps toward him as something draws her closer to him. Her fingers somehow find their way to his cheek as she feels tears building in her eyes as well, all while wondering why she feels like this for the man who so recently tried to kill her. Somehow, it's all been changed, yet she still doesn't see how.

His hand closes over hers as she cups his jaw gently, finding the electricity that builds between them strangely soothing. A few of Damon's stray tears warm Elena's fingertips as they roll across her hand, and she finds herself thinking that the action is too intimate, too close, to be sharing with Damon. She makes a move to remove her hand but his intense gaze meets her in a silent effort to stop her actions. She gets the strange feeling that he would have tried to compel her had she not been wearing vervain, so the words that meet her ears surprise her. "You look so much like her, Elena. It… hurts."

The final word is strangled, hardly above a whisper as it reluctantly leaves his lips. Elena doesn't know how to handle this Damon, so out of character and different from the cocky, arrogant man she's come to know. She's never seen him this broken, this hurt, and she finds herself searching for ways to fix him. "Damon," his name is a whisper on her lips, confused and worried as she continues to look at him, "I wish I could help you…"

His gaze remains fixed on hers as he takes her face in his hands, pulling her closer as her words meet his ears. A surge of electricity shocks through her at their proximity, and Elena finds herself tense and on edge as she tries to figure out what he's planning to do. Time seems to move in slow motion as she realizes he's leaning closer to her, lips inches and then centimeters from hers as she finds herself frozen in shock and unable to move.

And then he kisses her.

His lips move softly and slowly across hers, so slowly that she wonders if he's even realized what he's done. But then his mouth moves against hers and his tongue slides in her mouth, and she can taste his tears on her lips as he kisses her with a soft passion she didn't know existed within him.

It's when he pulls away and drops his hands to his sides that she realizes he hadn't kissed her, but Katherine, and she finds herself strangely content with finding a way to have helped him. She sees one final flash of his bright blue eyes before he's gone, leaving nothing but empty air standing before her as he disappears into the night.

Her fingers find their way to her lips, feeling the tingle that still resides there as she closes her eyes at the recognition of what has just happened. A tear escapes her eye and finds its way down her cheek, meeting Damon's tear on her fingers as they join in a union that's all too painful.

_Katherine,_ Elena finds herself talking to her mysterious doppelganger, wondering where on Earth she could be, _why aren't you here for him?_

**-End-**


End file.
